But He's Just A Baker
by TheFantasticPhantomWriter
Summary: From the moment Cato first sees Peeta in the Capitol, he is both fascinated and dying to know more; And now they're both in the Careers pack fighting for their lives. Rated M for future sexual content!
1. Intro

_But He's Just A Baker_

I'm not sure what first drew my eye to him. Maybe it was his entrance to the Capitol, wearing a cape of flames. Maybe it was that he was always at the side of that brunette girl… What was her name? Oh, right, Katniss. Anyway, he was a boring individual next to all the other tributes who were either bigger than him, smarter looking than him, or just plain fiercer than him. He didn't look like he could hurt a fly.

We were standing in the training room, waiting for our signal to go find something to practice with. My hands were, as usual, itching to go try out the more lethal looking weapons, like the swords and maces. I had been trained to use them back home, and a little intimidation would definitely do me some good.

"Begin," said a skinny Capitol man. He had pure white hair, and I had to resist shaking my head as I walked towards the weapons. I might be from District 2 where things are easier (they're not kidding when they say we're the pets of the Capitol) but that doesn't mean these weird looking people are familiar to me. They look more like tropical birds that I saw in a book once than people.

"Excuse me," a voice said, interrupting my thoughts. I blinked in confusion and glanced to the side to see a blonde stocky boy walking away. Did he just… say excuse me? Who was this kid? I frowned and picked up a small sword, swinging it around a few times just to check it's weight, mind still on that boy. Were manners really his top priority right now? What a weirdo. I listened to the conversation he was now having with the Katniss girl, hoping to maybe learn something about them. They were seated at the table where you learned about plants and stuff. I was going to skip that lesson; I'd be able to claim all the food in the arena with the other Careers anyway.

"Oh, I know this one!" the blonde said eagerly, pointing at a green plant that looked exactly the same as all the others. "Those are chives, right?"

"Yes, good job," said the female instructor with a smile. "They're edible, too, so keep them in mind."

"We use them at home in the bakery sometimes," he admitted. "They add flavor to meals that are, well… gross."

The instructor laughed. "They're definitely good for that. Do you recognize this one?" She pointed to another green plant with yellow flowers. He shook his head.

"Tetterwort?" inquired Katniss after observing it for a moment. The instructor nodded enthusiastically.

"Do you know it's effects?" she asked. When neither replied, she continued on. "Chelidonium, as it's more scientifically know as, can be used to help heal small open wounds. I personally wouldn't advise using it in any situation though, since the entire plant is poisonous."

"Hear that Peeta? Don't eat this one," Katniss teased. Their relationship was just plain confusing. Peeta laughed good-naturedly.

I turned away from them then, already having spent far too much time listening when I was supposed to be training. Clove was eyeing me suspiciously, as though asking why I had stopped swinging the sword around and was standing there looking like a moron. I rolled my eyes, at both her and myself, and began sparring with an attendant.

* * *

><p>At the end of the day, I was sitting in my provided bedroom and thinking over my strategy when I heard a knock on my door.<p>

"Come on in, Cato is waiting for you," I called lazily with my usual cocky air. It was probably Clove trying to be seductive or something anyway. I glanced at the door expecting to see her in lacy lingerie and was shocked to see Peeta the bread boy walking into the room and closing the door behind him. I sat up, now extremely wary. Who had let him in here? I knew he wasn't allowed. If he was caught they'd likely punish him for it during the games. Send a pack of rabid hyenas after him or something.

"Hi," he said, and I noticed how nervous he sounded. My eyes narrowed. Was this some plot?

"Yeah, hi, kiss kiss, all that lovely greeting crap," I said, standing up beside the bed and making sure he could make no sudden movements that I could not see. "What do you want? You're not even allowed in here."

"You invited me in," he said with a shrug, glancing around the room. "This is fancier than my floor."

"Don't make me ask again, Baker boy."

He sighed. "I have a question. I passed it through my mentor to yours, and they agreed to let me in. I'm under video surveillance anyway." He looked around the room as though he could see the tiny hidden cameras. "No audio, but I can't hurt you, so calm down."

"What's your question?" I ask him, not distracted. How could I not be highly suspicious? I know nothing about this guy except that he bakes bread (whoop-de-freaking-do) and is from District 12. He could have some malicious plan going on inside that thick head.

"I want to be a part of the Careers," he stated boldly. I blinked. This was not what I was expecting. What made him think I would let him in, anyway? I look him up and down deliberately, raking over his built arms and torso. He's clearly strong, but how strong?

"Can you kill?" I asked bluntly. This is the most obvious question. If he can't get the guts, he's got no chance.

"Yeah," he said. "If I were outside of this mess, I wouldn't, but in that arena, it's my life on the line."

"What about your little girlfriend?" She was hanging off his arm awfully close, after all.

"Katniss is a good fighter, and she knows how to survive. Besides, she's my enemy too." He shrugged, but I saw the discomfort in the way he shifted his eyes to the side. I contemplate for a moment. Having him with the Careers could be an advantage. If he knew how to use his muscles, then I would rather have him on my team than go against him. At least I'd learn about him while I watched him kill others beside me. On the downside, he connected to people way too easily.

"Okay, let's make a deal," I said. "We'll wait until our scores come out tomorrow. If I nod to you in the arena on the podiums, you know we're good." There. That was a reasonable decision. See how worthy he is before accepting him in.

"Alright," he said, and I was surprised to see a small grin on his face. "See you there, then." With a small wave (What is up with this guy?) he left my room.

I sat slowly back down onto my bed. Who was Peeta _really_, anyway?

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**_ Hi everyone! Yes, I am into the Hunger Games. I read them a long time ago, but the release of the movie got me excited over them again. Especially over Cato, since I think he is a pretty awesome character. I'm not a big Peeta fan personally, but I guess he's not too bad when he's not with Katniss. (Don't get me wrong, I love Katniss, but obviously she doesn't fit in well in this kind of story!) _

_This chapter is short because it's the intro. I basically did this off the top of my head without any planning, but I'll try to turn it into something good. I've been itching to write one for the Hunger Games lately anyway. _

_Reviews tell me if a story is worth continuing or not, so please let me know! I accept anonymous __reviews! Also they make my insides happy. You want my insides to be happy, right? RIGHT?_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-TFPW  
><em>


	2. The Bloodbath

Standing on the circular podium in the arena surrounded by 23 other tributes, I had to admit that I was scared. Yes, Cato the great, scared. I knew that I was going to get through this initial bloodbath; Careers _very_ rarely died at the Cornucopia. My thoughts were for after. It was impossible to not think about what kind of injuries I was going to get here. I could lose a limb. I knew I could die, too, but I tried to focus on the fact that I was one of the strongest tributes in the Games. People would think twice before dealing with me, so I had an advantage.

On the outside, thankfully, the sponsors would not see my anxiety. I was pretty good at hiding that sort of stuff, since back home my parents were beyond strict about controlling weak emotions, knowing that one day I might make it here. I wasn't sure how much I'd need the sponsors, but I was definitely not going to push them away.

Across the circle from me and slightly to the right, Peeta was looking as nervous as most of the others. He peeked at me at the same moment I peeked at him, and he held the stare. I remembered what he was waiting for, and gave a tiny nod before he looked away. He gave me a nod in return and his eyes turned back to the Cornucopia.

I had made good on my deal. I had waited for the scores, and surprisingly, he had done pretty well. Not as good as the Katniss girl (I was going to keep my eye on her), but not badly either. I had proceeded to tell Clove, and she sneakily passed the message along to our other Careers. I looked at all of them now. Glimmer and Marvel (District One), myself and Clove from District Two, Meg and Emery from District Four, and of course, Peeta. The latter had turned to Katniss now and seemed to be shaking his head at her. I wondered briefly what that meant, but then remembered I should be focusing now. Only twenty seconds. Fifteen. Ten. Five.

When the countdown reached zero, I ran like I had never run before. The adrenaline fueled me and pushed me past the other tributes, some still fumbling off their podiums. I managed to reach the Cornucopia before anyone else did, and once that sword was sitting snug in my grip, I knew nobody could touch me. This was what I had been raised for.

"Mistake!" I yelled gleefully at a male tribute who had dived in front of me to try to grab a weapon from the rack. My sword came down through his back, and when I tugged it sharply back out of the body, it was covered in bright red blood. I saw another tribute nearby, this one blonde and female, and I approached her from behind at a run. She turned around in a panic when she realized what was happening, and weakly held up a knife for defense, but I knocked it aside easily and my sword found its mark on her throat. She fell to the ground gurgling. There was a great commotion around me; Several careers were taking down tributes that weren't fast enough to grab what they needed to go, and I killed another that seemed to be streaking towards the preoccupied Glimmer with a long knife in his hand.

There wasn't much else for me to do after that point. Many other tributes were dead or dying, but all of them had someone to fight with. It was very easy to see how the Careers luxurious lives had given us an advantage. We were much larger and stronger.

Peeta ran past me at that moment, pushing a female tribute out of the way. I sidestepped in surprise and looked over my shoulder. I had been approached during my brief moment of distraction, and a girl had come up behind me with a small mace. Peeta pushed her to the ground, but she wasn't dead. Rather than let him have the glory of finishing her, I did it myself, bringing my sword down through her chest. She coughed once, and then she died.

"I s-saw her about to attack," Peeta said, pointing at her carcass and bending over with his hands on his knees. "Figured since we're allied now, it wouldn't have been good to let you die." He grinned a slightly lopsided smile.

"Yeah. Good." I wasn't sure what he expected me to say. Not _thank you_, certainly. That just wasn't me. I was already angry at myself for letting him put me in his debt anyway.

"Looks like we're about done here," said Glimmer as she walked up to us with her hips swaying side to side. Her shirt was bloodstained. "Only one left, and I think Clove is taking care of him."

"Excellent." I grinned, a wide sinister sort of expression. I glanced around myself, appraising the situation. Many dead bodies littered the ground, and after a quick count, I found eleven. Clove was with the twelfth.

"Cato!" called Clove suddenly. "Come here, we have an interesting situation."

Curiously, I moved to where she was kneeling in front of the male tribute from District Three. He was shuddering, eyes flashing from the knife at his throat to each face in turn rapidly. He was terrified.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why haven't you killed him? Got a crush? He isn't that attractive," I snorted and kicked the leg of the scrawny boy. He whimpered.

"He says he can help us," she explained, but pushing the knife harder against his throat all the same. Several beads of blood escaped and drew red lines down to his collarbone.

I laughed. "Help us? How? Look at him, he's a weakling."

"I'm from District Three," he whispered as though afraid to speak out of turn. "We manufacture electronics and explosives. I know how to work with them."

I paused and observed him closer. Sure enough, his hands had enough burns on them to be proof of his experience with such hazardous equipment. He could be helpful… if we had explosives.

"Kill him," I said lazily, waving a hand. "Kind of useless to have an electrician without electronics, huh? Waste of food-"

"Wait!" he called desperately, louder now. "The bombs around the platforms! I could rewire them to make them work!"

A hush fell over our group. This was unheard of. I had never seen a tribute even _think_ about that strategy before. Not only was it something this boy was likely capable of; it was brilliant. I turned back towards him, interest rekindled.

"What's your name?" I asked, folding my arms.

"Colby. Please," he pleaded. I deliberated for a moment.

"All right," I said, "Let's get you up and about, shall we?"

Clove released him, and the boy fell shakily to the ground. I ignored him and instead counted the people around me. Wait, one was missing.

"Emery?" I ask. Meg sadly points to the ground about 15 feet away. Lying there with his skull bashed in is none other than Emery. I sigh. One Career down. Luckily, the rest of us were perfectly okay, with the exception of a slight cut on Peeta's left cheek. Plus now we have explosive boy, who just might come in handy.

"Let's get collecting," I order, and point to the supplies lying on the ground that had not been taken. There was a great deal of them, and it took an hour just to gather everything and place it in a large pile beside the clear blue lake.

"Nice haul," Marvel commented, picking up a silver spear and throwing it into a nearby tree. Glimmer clapped and jumped up and down with a smile, most likely to show off her well endowed chest. It really didn't do anything for me; she looked a bit idiotic.

"We should separate food and things into piles," offered Peeta, pulling a loaf of bread from the pile and weighing it in his hand. Oh right, he was a baker. "We'll be better prepared if we're organized."

Everyone agreed, and spent yet another hour sorting out all the items. Our stack of food was large, and definitely promised to hold us through to the end. Especially since we would be dying off. Nobody mentioned it, but everyone knows that there won't be 7 tributes eating this food later on.

"Lunch," I ordered, and everyone obediently sat on the grass in a circle. I pulled out a bag of apples and some bread and passed a little to everyone. Then I dug out 7 bottles of clear cold water held in break proof containers and passed those out as well. I joined them on the grass with a sigh, averting my eyes from the blood that stained the grass by the Cornucopia.

"Not too bad for the bloodbath," Clove comments as she takes a bite out of her apple. "Eleven down. And even though we lost one, we did gain another." She pointed at Colby, who mumbled something quietly and ducked his head.

"Speaking of our guest," I started, "you better start your little project soon. We need protection for this food or we're, well, fucked." Everyone but Peeta laughed at my vulgarity. The Capitol citizens would cringe in front of their TV screens, but inside their heads they'd be secretly thinking about how I was so tough to be speaking like that.

"No problem," Colby said quietly. "I'll start now." He got up and trotted over to the platforms, out of hearing distance, and he seemed relieved to be able to escape our group. Being with the Careers had obviously not been his original plan. Now it was his only option.

"So Loverboy," Marvel said conversationally, turning to Peeta. "How are things with your babe going?"

Peeta snorted. "Awesome. I have a romantic dinner planned for tonight and everything."

"Aww, too bad," Glimmer snickered. I noticed her inch a few centimeters closer to Marvel, and shuddered internally. She was terrifying in her own seductive and mysterious way.

"So what are we doing after this brilliant meal?" Meg asked, wrinkling her nose at the piece of bread in her hands. She had never eaten so poorly in her life. "Setting up camp?"

"Seems like the best course of action," I replied with a shrug. "I'd like to be good and ready when night falls. Who knows what the other tributes are planning?"

"Probably nothing until they know exactly who is dead," Peeta noted, gesturing at the blood by the Cornucopia that had no yet been soaked in. "They'd be smart to wait until tomorrow."

"Not everyone is smart," Clove added. I nodded in agreement.

"Let's just get ready," I said, and ten minutes later, after stretching and yawning and complaining, we all stood to set up camp.

* * *

><p>"Camp" consisted of two tents placed side by side and with the middle panel removed. The purpose of that was to create one large sleeping area, making us less vulnerable and separated in case of an attack, as well as having two exits at all times. We also laid out 7 sleeping bags, the good quality kind that cushioned your spine and reflected back heat. As well, we stored our weapons within reach of ourselves where we'd be sleeping, and each of us had some food tucked in a bag beside our heads.<p>

I was rather uncomfortable with the sleeping arrangements though. Clove was on my left, which was all and well, but on my right was Peeta, and next to him was the door of the tent. It made us feel somehow closed off, like we were alone in this corner. I didn't like the feeling.

"Who gets first watch?" Glimmer asked, pulling her shirt and jacket over her head to expose a hardworking pale blue bra. I grimaced and turned away from the sight, though she was clearly enjoying the peeks that Marvel was giving her out of the corner of his eye. Even Colby in the corner with his electronics couldn't help stealing a few glimpses. I wanted to roll my eyes at them. There were more important things to do than stare at Glimmer being a slut.

"New kid," I volunteer Colby, and his eyes flash to me resentfully, but without any fight in them. He doesn't have any choice in the matter.

"Here, have a spear," said Clove, tossing him the weapon. Colby caught it uncertainly, but kept it anyway and left the tent to sit guard outside.

"It's been a long day," Marvel yawned, still staring at Glimmer's exposed upper body while she flounced around, constantly bending over to pick up this or that. "I'd say we get some rest."

"After the anthem," I say. They all agree, and we wait silently. It doesn't take long before the anthem blares, and we all peek our heads outside to look at the sky. Nothing surprising is listed there, so we all crawl into our respective sleeping bags. Before Peeta does so, he strips off his jacket and outer shirt like Glimmer, leaving just the simple undershirt. He's more well built than I thought, and his muscles flex . underneath the thin material. In a second, though, he's in the sleeping bag and covered up.

"So," I whisper, sure that only Clove would be able to hear, but not knowing why I wanted my conversation secret anyway. "Your girlfriend is alive."

Peeta chuckled, but it wasn't a happy sound. More sarcastic. "Great," he said, "I was starting to worry."

"Were you?" I asked seriously.

"No, of course not," he replies, flipping over and facing the door. But I can't see his face, and I know the rest of Panem can. And that's what really matters.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Holy crap guys! The support I received for the first ridiculously short and terribly written chapter was amazing! I got more reviews and alerts for that one chapter in one day than I usually get for three chapters. To say you've inspired me is an understatement. You can expect long chapters frequently if this sort of thing keeps up._

_What are my plans for this story? Well, it'll probably be long-ish. I've seen one-shots for this pairing, but not a lot of chapter stories. (Plus I didn't read any that appealed to me very much anyway... That's the reason I started this.) I'm super excited over this couple. There's just so many possibilities for sexual tension and love and all those gooey yummy things._

_Thanks again for all the reviews and +alerts! If I get support on this chapter too, I'll post another one tomorrow. I really LOVE reviews of any kind! _

_-TFPW_

_PS: My Twitter is listed on my profile page under "Contact Me". I'll be posting updates, sneak peeks and just general information on there regarding my fanfictions! Just a little tidbit!  
><em>


	3. His First Kill

I tossed and turned that night, drifting off two or three times, but never able to stay under. It must have been the stress of being in the arena, despite knowing just how much better off I was than everyone else. After being pulled from yet another hazy dream that I couldn't remember even directly after waking, I sat up straight with a frustrated groan. I ran a hand through my messy blonde hair as I looked over the occupants of the tent. Glimmer and Marvel were sharing one sleeping bag (ugh), and Clove was snoring like a lumberjack. Clearly they were not as troubled as me. I noticed District Three boy was back inside asleep in the opposite corner, and frowned. Who was guarding? With one peek to my other side, I knew it was Peeta. His sleeping bag was empty and thrown rather messily against the wall of the tent.

With a quiet sigh, I pulled myself out of my own sleeping bag and crawled outside with my jacket on my arm. It was still dark; maybe one or two in the morning. Peeta's shape was a shadow against the dark, and he was sitting fifteen feet away from the tent with the spear Colby had used stuck into the ground beside him. I shuffled, unsure of whether to go over or not, but he heard the movement and turned around to see me standing there. I tried to switch my expression to one of boredom, but I think he saw the awkwardness I was exuding.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked. I shrugged. "Here, come sit down then," Peeta offered, patting the ground at his side.

"Why not?" I said, mostly to myself, and I approached and flopped down.

"I couldn't sleep either, so I told Colby to go get some rest," He explained, picking pieces of grass and shredding them absentmindedly. "He's a nice kid."

"Great, just what we need. Nice people are so useful here," I snorted, leaning back on my elbows. "They just get in the way."

"I'm nice," Peeta mumbled in what seemed to be a dejected voice.

"You said you'd kill." I turned my face to his, and he grimaced. "You aren't changing your mind, are you?" My hand hovered lightly over the small knife hidden in my waistband as I said the words. Peeta, however, shook his head.

"No, I'll kill," he said. "I'm just not a bad person outside this arena. I wish I could just have a normal life without the Games interrupting it."

I shrugged. I was the complete opposite. I was exactly the same person in the arena and out of it. On top of that, I'd been trained since birth for these games. A normal life was not what I had been raised expecting or hoping for. Everyone I knew back home wanted the glory I was so close to.

Things were quiet for a while. Peeta seemed like a talkative guy, but I wasn't used to talking to people like him and he clearly wasn't used to talking to people like me. Speaking with partners or parents or trainers was easy, because the topic was always the games, but someone like Peeta wanted desperately to get out of here. What was there to even talk about besides strategy and weapons? What did people usually talk about? I tried to recall a television show drama that had once aired specially for our District, but nothing registered. I had been uninterested in the show anyway, since I preferred to go out and build my strength.

"You don't like me, do you?" Peeta asked suddenly. He turned to look at me, tilting his head to the side like a curious puppy.

I blinked. How should I answer that? "I don't know you," I finally mumbled. "And I don't want to be your friend. Allies is close enough."

"It's not the same," Peeta sighed. "Haven't you ever had a real friend? Not a partner, a friend?"

I thought about that. In truth, I hadn't, but I fought to think of someone who might be considered somewhere near that. Clove? No, anyone could see that I had no interest in her. She was a good fighter, and that was what was important to me. In the end, I could think of nobody, and ended up shrugging at Peeta instead of answering.

"That's too bad," he said in a voice like he was consoling me. "It's great to have someone that will stand by you no matter what."

"You have someone like that?" I asked. The subject was not particularily interesting to me, but it was far better than sitting here awkwardly together. I'd prefer to be inside fast asleep, but since I wasn't, there weren't many other places to go. Entering the woods was obviously a dumb idea when everyone in this arena wanted me dead, and I didn't exactly see an amusement park set up in the tall grass on the other side of the Cornucopia. Talking to Peeta would have to cut it for now.

"I had a best friend." Peeta smiled, remembering. "His name was Kip, and the first time I met him, I hated his guts."

"Wait, hold up," I stopped him. "You hated his guts? Thought he was your best friend?"

"Let me finish," he scolded, and I fell silent with a scowl at being ordered around. "I was probably twelve or thirteen, and he was the tiniest thing I ever saw in my life. He was the same age as me, but he could have been mistaken for an eight year old. Anyway, he came yapping up to me one day, and he had this huge grin on his face. Acted a bit like a puppy might. That's why I hated him." Peeta explained.

"I'm lost,' I admitted. "Thought happy was a good thing." Well, normal happy. Being happy about killing things like me was usually listed under psychotic. The thought didn't concern me. I knew I was little crazy. I blamed it on my parents.

"The fact that he could be so happy and so excited… It drove me up the wall. Our District isn't like yours," he looked at me with accusing eyes, and I narrowed mine in response. "We don't have enough food, and people are constantly starving in our streets. There's not really time for fun. We're all too busy working to keep ourselves alive."

"Poor baby," I muttered. He ignored me.

"Kip was starving, too. His Mom was sick, and his Dad worked in the coal mines. There wasn't much money. One day, when I finally snapped and demanded to know if he was insane, he just kept smiling at me. He told me that there was no point being sad about what he didn't have; he was happy for what he did have." He stopped speaking, a small smile curving his lips now too.

"How very inspiring," I said, standing up again. "As much as I _love_ talking to you about best friends and all, I think I'm going to go back to-" I stopped, looking at the night sky. Slowly, maniacally, a gleeful grin of my own spread across my face.

Peeta saw my expression and turned in the same direction. "Oh, wow," he commented.

"Yep. Looks like we're going hunting."

* * *

><p>I woke up the rest of the Careers hastily, needing to kick Clove several times in the side to even make her flinch a little bit. That would be bad news if we were ever ambushed while sleeping.<p>

"Whaddya want…" she groaned and covered her face with the sleeping bag. "I'm tired, go 'way."

"C'mon, there's some smoke in the sky. It's about a two hour walk away, and we're going hunting for whoever set it."

"Dun wanna," She sighed. I flipped the knife out of my waistband, and although she didn't seem to be looking in my direction, she sat up immediately.

"Ready?" I asked, playing casually with the knife. "Because I can still do some persuading."

"No, no," she said, getting out of her sleeping bag. She did not look pleased about it. "I'm up. Regretfully."

"Wimp," Glimmer murmured from where she was pulling on the clothes she had discarded.

"Look who's talking, beauty queen," Clove snarled in return. Before things could get out of hand and they wound up killing each other, I stepped in between them. Last thing we needed was a catfight.

"Get ready," I ordered. Both glared in my direction, but neither questioned me. There was something to be said about being the leader of a group like this. Of course, it wasn't exactly a group based on 'love', so they were bound to turn on me at some point. That was what usually happened in the Games.

"Here," said a voice from beside me. I glanced over and saw Peeta standing there with my sword in his hand. "Guess you'll need this." He wasn't smiling, but that didn't surprise me. Peeta found no joy in this hunt. He stood out compared to Marvel, who had a huge grin on his face and couldn't stop pacing the tent. In some ways, he was more insane than I was.

"Oh, yeah," I said, still not comfortable with saying thank you. "Guess this would come in handy."

"I'll just use the smaller sword and maybe carry a knife somewhere," he said, picking up the smaller weapon off the floor and weighing it in his hands. "My physical strength is more impressive than my strength with weapons any day."

I grinned. "My sword is bigger than yours, huh?"

Peeta didn't get it. "Yeah, so?"

I sighed. "Forget it."

* * *

><p>After we had all geared up and left Colby in charge of camp, (He had managed to set up three bombs around our food already, so we weren't too worried) we set out into the woods to find the smoke that was floating up into the air. Everyone was rowdy, especially Marvel, and nobody seemed intent on being quiet. We really didn't need to be. Nobody would attack us like this. On the other hand, it would give them warning to run if they did hear us. Whatever, we'd find them in the end. They couldn't run forever.<p>

"I wonder who was dumb enough to set a fire," giggled Glimmer. It was ironic that she was the one to make that comment when we knew she was likely the dumbest one in the entire arena. She was brutal and strong, it was true, but her brain was about the size of a walnut.

"Maybe it's Katniss Everdeen," Marvel suggested with a smirk in Peeta's direction. This irked me.

"Shut up, Marvel," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Protecting Loverboy? Interesting. Didn't know you had such a big heart." He turned his voice simpering at the end and batted his eyelashes.

"Fighting amongst ourselves now is idiotic," I rebuked, smacking him over the head with the side of my sword for emphasis. "I don't want to get in a mess like the 68th Games."

"Oh, I remember that one," Meg piped up. "The Careers died first because they had a bloodbath of their own. It was pretty amazing how they managed to kill each other entirely. Not one survived."

"Yeah, let's avoid that, shall we?" I looked around at all of their faces, and they each mumbled something and submissively hung their heads. Much better.

* * *

><p>We walked for about 2 hours, and stopped when Clove held out her arm and put a finger to her lips. We all obeyed and peered around her to see what she saw.<p>

"Look at the smoke," she whispered, pointing up. We did so and saw that the smoke was very close now, maybe 5 yards away. It was fading, as though it had been lit for a while, but that didn't concern us.

"I'll go in and see what's up," said Meg. She sneakily slipped out into the trees and returned a moment later with a huge grin on her face. "Asleep," she announced.

"Excellent," Marvel hissed happily.

"Let's go," I stepped into the lead and started to quicken my pace. She wouldn't escape now even if she did wake up immediately. We were too strong, and there were too many of us. I grinned when we reached her. She was waking now, and she saw the danger before her, but it was too late; she couldn't even run. Clove got behind her and grabbed a handful of her hair, propping her up. The girl began pleading.

"Please, no! Don't kill me!" Tears ran down her face, but none of us paid any mind. I considered taking her out myself, but saw Marvel out of the corner of my eye itching to do it himself. I nodded at him and a shark-like grin spread across his face.

"Bye bye," he whispered in her ear as he drove his long thin knife into her abdomen. She gasped and fell to the side, her eyes wide open in horror. Marvel removed his knife and wiped the blood on his shirt while everyone congratulated each other and clapped him on the back.

"Nice, real good," Meg complimented. He laughed gleefully.

"Yeah, a good job if I do say so myself." The girl was not moving, and a pool of blood was emptying from her wound onto the pine needles.

"Better clear out so they can get the body before it starts stinking," I said, turning to walk away from the body on the ground. A few seconds later, Clove asks,

"Shouldn't we have heard a cannon by now?" Everyone pauses, but Glimmer answers.

"I'd say yes. Nothing to prevent them going in immediately."

"Unless she isn't dead," Clove suggested, staring back in the general direction of the body.

"She's dead. I stuck her myself," Marvel growled in a threatening voice, angered by the questioning of the authenticity of his kill.

"Then where's the cannon?" Clove demanded. Marvel snarled.

"Someone should go back. Make sure the job's done," I said.

"Yeah, we don't want to have to track her down twice," Clove added, raising an eyebrow at Marvel, who looked furious.

"I said she's dead!" He exploded. They spent another minute spitting insults back at one another and arguing, but Peeta interrupted them.

"We're wasting time! I'll go finish her, and let's move on!" His voice was cold and unfriendly. I looked at him in surprise, but made no move to stop him as he returned to the girls body. Marvel looked about ready to launch himself at Peeta, so I stepped to his side and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave it," I advised. He considered me for a minute, but in the end, he shook off my hand and returned to Glimmer's side with a grimace that I associated with defeat. Nice, so not even Marvel was willing to take me on. That was worth remembering.

"Done," Peeta said when he returned to our group. There was blood on his hands, and while he rubbed it off on a tree, the cannon finally sounded.

"There, let's go," Glimmer sighed. I nodded, and everyone grouped together again and began walking once more through the woods.

"You okay?" I asked Peeta, despite the fact that I didn't really care either way. But if he was going to fall apart because he killed someone, I really should know, right?

"Yeah, I'm fine," Peeta replied, giving me a small smile. I shrank back from that expression. He looked gratified that I had asked him. Oh no, I wasn't giving off soft vibes, was I?

"My sword is still bigger," I mumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _I promised a chapter 3 today if I got good support, and I kept my promise! I had to spread the writing of this out throughout the day though, since I was really busy. But I still got it done._

_Basically this chapter is just establishing the relationship that already exists between Cato and Peeta. Cato is (secretly) kind of protective of Peeta, but totally mortified that he is. Peeta wants him to realize that he doesn't need to just focus his life on killing. _

_The body part of the last bit (the argument) is in the book, but not with any details, so I kind of did it my own way. I also changed the method they used to find the girl by the fire, (to make time for Peeta and Cato to be alone, as well as letting them set up camp) so don't hate me! Little changes like that will probably be made by me through the story, I just hope they flow and don't seem ridiculous._

_I'm super excited about this story, guys! I'm amazed by how many people have put this on their alert list, plus my cherished reviewers. It's an amazing response, thanks so much._

_Toss me a review to let me know how things are going! (Too fast, too slow, in character or not, chapter length, etc!) _

_-TFPW  
><em>


	4. Allusions

We returned to the lake after we finished the girl (from District 8, we thought) and although we kept an eye out for more tributes on the way, we didn't see any. Guess there would only be one name in the sky that night.

Back at the camp, Colby was dead on his feet, obviously hoping we'd get back soon so he could sleep. We nodded at him as we emerged from the woods, and he gratefully dove back into our tent.

"Nobody went after the food," Peeta mentioned, looking at the pile. "They must be suspicious about why it's out in the open."

"Good thing too. We need that stuff," Glimmer added on.

She was right. Without that pile, we were goners. One thing we hadn't really been trained to do was to be hungry, or to get our own food. The point of the Careers was to kill. At my side, I saw Peeta yawn and stretch his arms out to the sides. Oh right, he hadn't slept last night either. He was just as exhausted as me, and that was saying something.

"Look, we're going to get some sleep," I told the group, gesturing at Peeta who looked dead on his feet. "The rest of you can decide who's going to guard, and who's going to get some rest."

"How cute," Glimmer said with a sadistic grin. "Already sleeping together?"

It took me a minute to understand what she was trying to get at, but when I finally got it, I was mortified. Peeta was spluttering beside me, and I turned to look at him. Oh great, he was blushing like a pre-teen girl.

"I don't sleep in the way that you sleep, Glimmer," I retorted. "I usually do it with my clothes _on_." This accusation didn't bother her; she just shrugged and sent a sultry look towards Marvel, who raised an eyebrow. I wondered briefly if they had… no, never mind, I definitely didn't want to know.

"I'll just… um… yeah," said Peeta awkwardly, ducking his head and entering the tent. Was it even acceptable for me to follow him, now? It would look like I was interested in him or something. Oh God, ew. Please keep those thoughts out of my head. Glaring at Glimmer, I ducked after him, hoping he wouldn't get the wrong idea. Not that he should, anyway, since I was _quite_ obviously _not_ interested. Oh no, I was rambling. Rambling was bad.

"Sorry about her," I muttered when I saw him in the sleeping bag with the top pulled up to his nose. His eyes flickered to me, looking suspicious. "She loves to say stuff like that."

He appraised me for half a second longer, and then pushed the blankets down slightly to expose his mouth. "She says some weird stuff."

"I know," I sighed and pulled off my jacket, tossing it into the corner of the tent and slipping into my own sleeping bag. "The second two people are alone, she makes assumptions. She mentioned something about me and Marvel a while ago too," I frowned as I recalled what she had said. "I think she likes gay guys or something."

"What?" Peeta sounded shocked. "But that stuff is… weird." He paused. "Wait, you're not… are you?"

"Fuck no!" I yelled back at him in horror. He flinched back.

"Well you just seem… I dunno," Peeta didn't finish what he was going to say, and instead turned to face the tent wall embarrassedly.

"I seem what, exactly?" He must have heard the threat in my voice, because when he answered, his voice was anxious.

"Just uninterested. In girls."

I scowled. "I'm not interested in _anybody_, I thought you got that. Romance isn't even on my list right now, let alone a priority."

I could tell Peeta had shrugged, because I saw the material of the sleeping bag move up and down slightly. "Guess so," he answered. I couldn't tell whether he was still suspicious or not.

Lovely. This was one messed up situation. In the arena of all places, allusions had been made that I was _gay_. The sponsors were going to panic. Some would be overjoyed of course, the ones like Glimmer that loved man on man action, but a lot were going to turn their backs on me out of disgust. Even though I wasn't gay, that's all they were going to see from now on, and that was trouble for me.

"I'm screwed," I groaned, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands. Peeta turned his head to look at me over his shoulder.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because now _everyone_ is going to be watching me for signs that I'm into guys," I complained. "If I liked anyone, it would be girls." Not that I did. On the whole, it was rare for someone to be "good enough" for me. I had, when I was 15 at home, been forced by my parents to meet a group of girls to see if any of them interested me. Every single one of them had been content to hang off my arm and smile sappily at everyone we passed. It was sickening, and I just plain couldn't understand how anybody could possibly deal with that on a daily basis. In the end, my parents gave up and let me keep my solidarity.

"Make out with Clove or something," Peeta yawned and made himself comfortable. "Anyway, I'm going to sleep. No climbing into my sleeping bag." He looked at me with a teasing grin, and I just scowled back.

"Go to sleep before I change my mind about you and slice your throat," I threatened, turning to face the opposite side.

* * *

><p>I slept much better during the day than I had the night before. I only slept for maybe 4 hours, but it refreshed me, and when I awoke, I felt back to my old self. The Cato that cared for nobody, and who always had a witty comment stored in the front of his mind. I was sure nobody would be pleased to have this more sadistic and evil Cato back. I looked back on the day before and wanted to just erase it from existence. I had acted like a fool.<p>

Peeta wasn't awake yet. His mouth was wide open as he snored, and the sleeping bag had slipped down to his waist. I was momentarily disturbed by the fact that he was shirtless (though I understood why; the heat reflecting bags were nearly unbearable during the day) but quickly caught myself and changed from awkward to strong.

"Get up, Loverboy," I kicked his side like I had Clove's, but harder, and he jerked awake, looking around like a madman.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's time to get up," I told him as I left the tent. "If you don't get out here in 2 minutes, you'll regret it. Actually," I paused at the door flap. "you wouldn't have time to regret it before you were dead." The shock on his face was refreshing as I exited. I really had to work to get my respect back now. My previous idiocy likely messed up whatever sponsors and support I had, as well as allowing the other tributes to think I wasn't a leader here.

But, I thought suddenly, this could prove to my advantage. If they never knew what to expect from me, they would always have to be wary of me. Everyone was scared of people they couldn't predict.

"What's been done?" I asked Meg harshly when I saw her sitting on a rock a few feet away. She looked up from some sort of braiding she was doing with grass, and frowned when she saw the change in my mood.

"Have a good sleep?" she asked. I stepped in front of her and pulled my ever-handy knife out to caress her face with it. A small cut opened over her cheek bone.

"I'm not playing around," I breathed. "Cut the shit and answer my questions."

She gulped. "Colby set up another 5 bombs," she replied quickly, understanding now that I was not to be tempered with this morning. "Glimmer and Marvel filled water containers," she gestured towards the bottles stacked near the tent, "and I just finished sharpening our weapons."

I nodded. This wasn't bad progress. "Any hints of other tributes?"

"No, but we know they won't be coming to this area. We're too much of a threat. If we want to kill any today, we're going to have to hunt them down."

I removed the knife from her face, and she touched the small cut gingerly. "I don't know about that. I think today we'll stay here and reinforce protection around the food. If we get lucky, maybe one will be stupid enough to try to get to the lake," I said to her, and looked at the body of water. I narrowed my eyes when I saw Glimmer and Marvel sitting beside it on the grass, not doing anything productive.

"Find something to do," I told Meg, and she nodded hastily, her brown ponytail flipping around her head wildly. She was scared of me. As she very well should be.

As I suspected, Glimmer and Marvel were not doing anything at all. Glimmer was braiding a piece of her hair, and Marvel was just admiring her. I cleared my throat when I stopped behind them. Glimmer immediately picked up a mocking smile, not recognizing the change in my mood. Marvel was smarter, and he looked at me apprehensively.

"Have a good _sleep_?" she asked, still with that dumb expression on her face. I lunged forwards and pulled a handful of hair into my grip. She shrieked in pain.

"I suggest we keep our mouth closed today before nice, sweet Cato decides to make that smile a bit wider with his knife," I hissed in her ear. She nodded frantically, and I dropped her.

"We were just-" Marvel began to say, seeming to realize why I was over here at all.

"Flirting?" I provided helpfully. "This is the _Hunger Games, _and I don't know about you, but I don't think that implies that we try to get into each others pants." I could see Glimmer itching to comment, but she kept silent.

"Sorry," Marvel murmured, head down. "We figured we should keep an eye out at the lake in case anyone showed up."

"And obviously the best way to have the best perspective on that is to stare at this bimbo," I said, nodding my head at her, where she was rubbing the place I had grabbed her. "Split up, Glimmer on the right side, you on the left. Yell out if you see anything, we don't need the element of surprise."

They obeyed quickly, each getting their weapons out of where they had stored them stuck in the ground, and walked to their places. I grinned to myself and started walking back to the tent. Peeta stumbled out when I was halfway there, looking sleepy and disoriented, but definitely taking my threat seriously. What concerned me the most, however, was that he was _still_ shirtless.

"Why are you half naked?" I asked dully when I was in front of him.

"It's hot," he replied, crossing his arms across his chest as though he was self conscious. He really had no reason to be; his body was well built.

"I'm not shirtless," I replied, rolling my eyes, and really just wishing he'd put a fucking shirt on. This was distracting.

"Maybe you should be," said Peeta, shrugging. I blinked. Did Peeta really just suggest that I strip? "It's way more comfortable," he added on, maybe realizing exactly how weird his first sentence had sounded.

I looked around. Meg had disappeared to talk to Colby about something, Clove was nowhere to be seen, and the District One kids were at the lake staring into the woods.

"Fine," I mumbled. It was hot, after all. I reached over my shoulder and grabbed a handful of material, pulling it over my head in one easy motion. When it was off, I threw it to the side and it fell in a pile at the base of the tent.

Peeta was looking me up and down, like someone might look at a horse before they bought it. "Huh," he said simply.

"Huh?" I asked. That was it? That was all he had to say about my glorious Godly body? A real life Adonis was standing in front of him, and he says _huh? _

"I'm kinda jealous," he replied with a grin on his face. "I don't look anything like that." He gestured towards my abdomen.

"Oh." Well, that was a bit better. "Okay."

Peeta kept grinning, and despite being back to what I thought was the "old" Cato, I couldn't bear to wipe it off his face. What the hell was it with this kid? It must be that I was the one who officially let him in the Careers and I didn't want him to look bad, because in turn, I would also look bad for accepting him in the first place. Wait, what did that have to do with him smiling?

"So what are we doing?" Peeta asked.

I hesitated. I hadn't really considered that. "Um," I said brilliantly. Why did my mind always cloud up around this idiot? Did he have telepathic powers or something? "Let's spar. You could use some work."

"Two hot guys sparring, the girls watching are going to split their pants in excitement," Peeta teased, but he grabbed a wooden sword from where it lay on the ground beside the tent.

"Two hot guys?" I asked as I also retrieved one and we moved to an open area.

"I mean, it's just an observable fact." He was pink as he said it. "Not like I actually know or anything. But Glimmer thinks you are, so…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Of course I'm hot," I said with a roll of my eyes. "But how do you know that about yourself? For all you know, everyone thinks you're a wimp." I held my sword in front of myself and after a quick count-down, we launched ourselves at each other. The wood collided, and I grinned at the sound. I loved sparring. I had done it daily at home, and I was good at it. Peeta wasn't terrible considering he didn't use weapons normally, but he definitely wasn't a match for me.

"I just see how people look at me," panted Peeta after a moment in response to my previous question. "Even girls back home were interested, but here it's gotten worse because they cleaned me up and broadcasted me to all of Panem." He grimaced when a particularly brutal attack of mine sent him staggering back a couple of feet.

"Too bad you're in here, or you might be able to get some," I laughed as I attacked again. He blocked me this time, and quickly ducked to the side.

"Yeah," he replied with a laugh. He shot his sword out towards my ribs, and I deftly avoided it and sent another jab his way. To my great misfortune, however, I failed to see the rock on the ground until I lost my footing and was falling over it. And of course, out of all the places to land, gravity chose Peeta's body for me to fall onto.

"Ow, shit," I groaned. I looked down and fell silent when I saw Peeta underneath me. We were both covered in a slight sheen of sweet from the sparring, and we were pressed together tightly from the impact. His face was bright red, and he blushed further when, trying to adjust myself to a more appropriate position, I accidentally brought a knee between his legs. It was just a nudge, definitely not anything that would _hurt _him, but he leapt out of his skin.

"G-Gotta go," he stuttered, disentangling himself from my body and sprinting away to the lake. I watched him leave from my place on the ground, still stunned silent.

Did every encounter I had with him have to be so awkward?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Hey guys! Here's chapter 4, hope_ _you enjoy it! It's pretty long (ha) which is awesome. I couldn't find a good place to stop until they sparred, so you guys get a big chapter. _

_I'm updating pretty steadily too, so I hope you guys appreciate that! I normally get really lazy with fanfictions, but I'm inspired with this one. _

_Got some great reviews on the last chapter, and hope to get some more for this one! _

_To the people wanting fluff: I'm addicted to fluff too, so you'll probably be seeing some good stuff soon._

_To the person who said movie-Cato was cute: HELLLLL YEAH. I saw him and immediately wanted to __love him __forever._

_Thanks guys!_

_PS: It's really intimidating to know there's guys reading this story!  
><em>

_-TFPW_


	5. What I'm Feeling

I didn't see Peeta again until later that evening. After his quick exit, I had stood momentarily confused, but then moved on to some more practice, this time with Clove. She didn't have the physical strength that Peeta was blessed with, but she was quick and I needed to be able to fight all sorts of enemies. At first she had an advantage on me, ducking underneath each of my hard-hitting attacks, but after I learned her movements, it got easier to predict her. I was beating her every time.

Well, until Peeta showed up again, that is.

"Sorry," he apologized as soon as he was within hearing distance. "Needed some time."

"Uh, right," I said from where I was lying on the ground, pinned by Clove, who looked unbearably amused.

"So, um… are we going to eat?" Peeta asked.

I shrugged from my place on the ground and shoved Clove off me clumsily. "Yeah, I guess so. I could use a meal."

"Me too," Clove added, but she was now retreating away from the two of us slowly. "I'll go get us some food." She ran off and I saw her hand come up to her mouth like she was snickering at something.

"What's she laughing at?" I demanded of Peeta, who shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe I look funny," he answered, glancing down at himself. I followed his gaze. Still shirtless. Typical. But aside from that, he really didn't look like anything Clove should be laughing her head off at.

"You look… fine," I said uncomfortably. Could she hurry up with the food? "What were you doing for the past hour and a half anyway?"

"Just wandering around I guess," he replied, dropping himself to the ground and stretching out comfortably on the grass. "C'mon, sit down."

"I'll stand, thanks," I mumbled. Peeta rolled his eyes and grabbed my ankle, causing me to fall onto my butt painfully. I could practically hear everyone watching the Games laughing. "You wanna die?" I snarled at Peeta. He just grinned back in a friendly way. Jesus, this guy.

"You wouldn't," he said confidently.

"I… you don't… know…" I struggled for words. He had hit me in a place that I was trying desperately to keep hidden away deep inside my head. Sadly, and I wanted to deny it with every fiber of my being, I didn't think I wanted to kill Peeta. He was like a puppy or something. What kind of sick freak kills a puppy? I might be a bit messed up, I'll be the first to admit it, but there's some things that just aren't acceptable.

"If it's any consolation," said Peeta, "I don't want to kill you either."

I snorted. "You don't want to kill _anyone_," I replied. "Besides, why do you need to console me? If you aren't killed by someone else, I'll do it when the time comes."

Peeta shrugged but didn't push the topic any further, since Glimmer and Marvel were approaching, both looking wary and tossing quick glances at me every few seconds. Clearly still intimidated by my earlier actions. It was a welcome reprieve to the atmosphere I felt around Peeta. Like he wanted me to be his… friend… or something.

"Clove is getting food from the pile. Time to eat?" Glimmer asked after appraising my mood.

"Yeah," I responded, too distracted by my own thoughts to be mean. "Let's eat."

* * *

><p>After our small meal of smoked meat and dried fruit (during which Glimmer had not stopped scowling once), we all settled down in a circle around a small fire that Colby had masterfully set up. The kid was good with fire, that was for sure. We had laughed about that for a moment, making a few jokes about him and Katniss, "the girl on fire".<p>

"Maybe you two should get together," Marvel grinned. "As long as Loverboy doesn't mind, of course." He nodded his head towards Peeta who was sitting next to me, sprawled out on the ground but not really partaking in the conversation. He looked up when he heard his nickname.

"Not interested," he said. "Want her, Colby?"

"N-No," Colby stuttered, blushing and staring at his toes. I grinned. He was just too much fun to play with like this. I turned to look at Peeta while I still had the smile on my face, and realized it was a terrible mistake too late. He saw my expression, and after a second of hesitation, he gave me a smile back. Oh no, he thought I was smiling at _him_.

Before I could try to set my manliness back where it belonged, maybe by punching Peeta in the jaw, Clove yawned and stretched her arms out to the sides, almost hitting Megan in the face.

"Bedtime?" she suggested sleepily. Everyone nodded and stood, Marvel volunteering to go on watch first since he wasn't tired yet. I followed the others into the tent, being uncharacteristically silent.

"Nice abs," Clove commented with a grin, nodding at my abdomen when I took off my upper layers of clothing and tossed them carelessly somewhere behind me. An alarmed yell made me think they might have landed somewhere on Glimmer's person.

"Thanks, but they're reserved," I scowled at her and slid into my sleeping bag, turning so my back was facing her. This meant I was facing Peeta, who was getting changed, but he was the lesser of two evils if Clove was trying to seduce me by talking about my abs. I stared lazily towards the side of the tent, ignoring the boy.

Until he started taking off his pants.

"What the hell, man, what are you doing?" I demanded. He turned around in surprise, holding his pants balled up in his hands, clad in nothing but a pair of black boxers.

"Changing? I wasn't aware you were watching." He raised an eyebrow.

To my horror, at that exact moment, I felt my dick start to get hard.

No. No, no. No, _please_, no. Why now? Any other time would have been better than this. (Except for maybe when Peeta had been on top of me.) I knew he wouldn't be able to see through the sleeping bag or anything, but that wasn't so much what was bothering me.

I was turned on. And it was from watching a guy strip down to his underwear. It wasn't even a girly guy that I could make excuses about; Peeta had muscles and short hair and rugged features. My face was quickly flushing with embarrassment, and sadly, the baker boy noticed the change.

"You okay?" he asked, and, oh god why, he bent down next to me to stare at my face closer. Any doubt that it had been Peeta who had caused this was kicked forcefully from my brain when I felt myself get even harder from his close proximity. So damn close. I could see little every little movement he made affect his muscles in some way, and his eyes were trained directly on me, looking more concerned than he had any right to be.

"Please get the fuck away from me," I tried to demand in a snarly, masculine tone. I was further mortified when my voice went up two octaves halfway through.

"Sure you're okay?" he asked, laying a hand on my forehead. "You're all red." No shit, Sherlock Holmes, thanks for the analysis.

"I'm fine," I grumbled. Please get the hand off of me. He was only touching my forehead, possibly the least sexual body part that existed, but electricity seemed to be rolling through my body, staying true to real lightning form and seeking to go lower. He was making my already compromised situation ten times worse. I curled my legs towards myself pathetically and turned away from his hand to face the other way.

"Well if you want to be like that," Peeta said in a cranky voice. I heard footsteps and a small sigh as he got into his own sleeping bag.

So now my only problem was what was nudging my stomach from inside my pants. I had wondered briefly before entering the arena in the beginning whether something like this would ever be problematic, but shoved it from my mind after deciding that I'd be too distracted by carnage and death to pay much attention to my lower half. Who could have predicted I'd suddenly become turned on by half naked baker's that happened to share a tent with me?

I couldn't leave, that was for sure. The question wasn't _who_ would notice, it was who wouldn't. Another option was to just leave it alone and wait for it to eventually go away. That was painful to even think about; I was dying for relief.

One more option. Take care of business. In my sleeping bag.

I looked around the tent quickly, checking to see where everyone was and what they were doing. Glimmer had gone outside to sit with Marvel, Meg had the sleeping bag zipped up over her head for some reason, Clove was already fast asleep (she could do it on command, I swear), and Colby was facing the other wall.

Well, it was now or never.

Trying to remain inconspicuous, I turned back towards Peeta, who was thankfully facing the door, maybe ticked off that I had been uninterested in his concern. I also pulled the sleeping bag higher up my body and thanked the game makers that the thing was huge, easily big enough for two people, so that my, uh, _movements_, would go unnoticed. With one more quick glance over my shoulder, I stuck my hand into my boxers.

It felt like a bit of a betrayal to myself. I wasn't gay, yet I had been turned on by a man and was now taking care of the problem right beside the one who had caused it. It didn't mean anything, of course, I knew that. Sexual attraction did not go hand in hand with affection and it _certainly _didn't in this case. Besides, didn't everyone have sexuality questions sometimes? And nearly always decided they were straight anyway? Yeah, this was just a little hormonal blip in my system. No big deal.

I closed my eyes and struggled to maintain a normal looking face, but after a minute or so, I was biting my lip to stop from making any sound. I also had to be careful not to brush against the sleeping bag with each stroke, in case someone decided to turn and see why I was moving around. With the tense atmosphere of being caught surrounding me, it didn't take long to finish.

"Shit," I hissed out in a strange garbled sort of groan. I was getting my breathing in check when Peeta turned over suddenly to look at me.

"You say something?" he asked.

"No," I answered quickly, trying to wipe the mess off my hand onto the inside of my boxers. I could deal with stickiness for one night and toss them into the lake tomorrow for a cleaning.

He looked at me suspiciously. "But I heard something."

"Maybe it was Clove talking in her sleep," I suggested, nodding over my shoulder where she had her mouth wide open, attracting flies. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"I don't think so," Peeta said with a sigh, tugging the covers up to his neck. He fell silent for a moment, and I hoped I was free from having to talk to him, but no such luck. "Would you… would you really kill me?" he asked.

I cursed inside my head. "It's the Hunger Games. We're in the arena. Think any of us have a choice?"

"There's always a choice," Peeta mumbled.

"Thanks Dr. Wisdom, but no, there isn't. We have an alliance," I said the word forcefully, falling from my high and very quickly returning to normal. "I would advise you don't get attached to anyone, because this isn't permanent." I pushed the sleeping back down to my chest and gestured around with my left hand, the one that didn't feel uncomfortably sticky.

"I don't know about attached, but I don't want to kill you." Peeta seemed as uncomfortable as me, but I prayed it was for different reasons. I did _not_ need that mental image in my weird hormonal state. "I think the rest, I probably could… But you're weird."

"Wow, thanks. Most people would say special, not weird." I rolled my eyes. "But anyway, lose the hero worship or whatever it is you feel for me. It's stupid."

"I didn't say it was smart," snapped Peeta in a whisper. "And it's not hero worship. I don't understand it. I shouldn't like anything about you. Our personalities are opposites." He paused. "Well, _were_ opposites. Sometimes you seem a bit different. Softer, maybe. It makes it worse, because I wonder if it would be possible for us to be friends."

"No, it wouldn't. We're in the arena, Peeta, Just stop."

"It's interesting when you call me by my name," he replied thoughtfully. "Like we should be calling each other by last names like Harry and Draco do_._" He grinned. "So I'd be Mellark, and you'd be… wait, what would you be?"

"Cato," I frowned at him. "Just Cato."

"Okay, Just Cato." Peeta grinned like he was telling a hilarious joke.

"Go away, Peeta bread." I flipped over, hoping to end the conversation. There was silence for a moment.

"Cato…" he whispered suddenly, in a much softer voice than I expected.

"What?" I replied, looking over at him. He hesitated, serious now.

"Do you really want to kill me?" he asked in a quiet voice. I couldn't distinguish which emotion he was experiencing. Hopeful? Worried?

It took me a moment to respond. "No," I finally whispered, closing my eyes tightly to shut everybody out. "I don't."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Word lied to me about word count, so you guys get a longer chapter than I had originally planned to write._

_I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I've been more busy than you can possibly __imagine, and I've also met someone I'm really into, and I want to focus on that a bit. Or a lot._

_So, yep, Cato is still confused. More so now than ever. Soon things will get more heated, I promise. Right now they're both just realizing how things are between them. Peeta thinks he wants Cato's friendship, and Cato is assuming that what he wants is something like that too, but he's more in denial than anything else._

_I adore all my reviewers, oh my goodness. I've been called lovely and sweet and all these awesome things, and everyone has such nice things to say. I've even had people PM-ing me, demanding to know when I'd update, or what I plan to do with this! It's exciting. Please keep it up, I wouldn't still be writing without your support!_

_Hopefully the next chapter will make it out sooner than later. _

_PS: I'm working on another Cato/Peeta fic, but it's just a one-shot. Might be around 5000-10000 words. It's also rated M, and I'm liking it. Should be up soon, I hope. Just need to finish the steamy part and it's done.  
><em>

_-TFPW _


	6. What Friends Do

I had a hard time sleeping again that night. It was like I couldn't shut my mind up long enough to fall into the nothingness I was craving. Every time I managed to, Peeta seemed to move and immediately his face would pop back into my head. I couldn't stop thinking about him and his damn puppy-like personality, or the fact that I had admitted that I didn't want to kill him. It was a miserable thing to have on my mind, especially here in the arena where eventually I would be forced to kill Peeta or be killed _by_ Peeta. I wasn't sure which was worse, really.

I was consoled by the fact that Peeta seemed to be having an equally difficult time sleeping that night. Every few minutes he'd toss or turn, and one time I could have sworn I heard him sigh in exasperation. I wondered what he was thinking about that was keeping him awake, and if it was as frustrating and strange as the problem I was experiencing. Like that was even possible.

When everyone else started stirring in the early hours of light the next day, I had achieved maybe an hour of sleep and wanted to punch everyone that made a single noise. Peeta stirred, and my eyes flickered unwillingly to him as he sat up and stretched, muscles contorting in ways that did nothing to make me feel less uncomfortable about what I had done the day before. He turned and glanced sleepily at me, blinking several times to clear his vision.

"You look like shit," he mumbled, followed immediately by a yawn.

"Yeah, and you look fabulous, sleeping beauty," I grumbled back at him, running a hand through my hair and likely making it stand up on the ends. I probably looked like a member from one of the dumb boy bands people in the Capitol loved so much.

"I guess I am kind of hot," he laughed, flopping back down onto his sleeping bag. "How did you sleep last night?"

"About as well as you did," I answered absentmindedly, trying to focus on the shadow of a bug on the wall of the tent and not about how Peeta would look pinned to his sleeping bag. Not that that was on my mind or anything, no, of course not.

"I barely slept at all," Peeta said as though I wasn't aware. "It's terrible. I think the arena is freaking me out or something. I sleep like a log at home."

"Sorry, it's me," I said, barely realizing that I was playfully teasing him. "I frequently keep people awake at night." For a moment I thought I had pushed things too far, because it took Peeta a moment to reply.

"Yeah, you should stop being so darned attractive," he said with a grin. "At least the noise didn't wake anyone up."

Marvel, who was casually tucking a knife in his pocket turned around with wide eyes. "What?" he asked in horror. "Please tell me you aren't serious."

Peeta quickly put a very business-like expression on his face. "Would I joke about something like that?" he asked in a voice you might hear a strict father use.

"In the tent? Oh god, that's nasty!" Marvel looked ready to cry. "Dude, guys, that's gross. Do it in the woods or something."

"The woods? Good god man, think of the sticks!" Peeta was struggling to keep up his serious façade, but the snickers were starting to sneak through. I just put my head in my hands and groaned.

"Peeta, shut your face, please."

"Please?" he repeated in surprise. A grin grew on his face again. "Well… because you said please, I suppose I'll have to listen."

I rolled my eyes and turned to Marvel. "Go. Outside," I ordered him. He nodded and nearly tripped himself up as he stumbled out of the tent. Clearly my word was still law, but Peeta was messing with that a little more than I wanted him to.

"That was funny," the demon baker chuckled to himself, laying back down and shutting his eyes.

"Completely hilarious," I growled, sitting up and running a hand through my hair. "You do realize I have to maintain some form of a reputation in this place, right?"

"Oh calm down," Peeta replied, eyes still closed. "We all know you're big and bad. Ooga booga and all that."

That was it. He crossed the line. I launched myself from my sleeping bag and landed on his unsuspecting form, quickly straddling his chest and bringing a knife up to hold at his throat. His eyes flashed open and quickly flickered from my face to the knife that he was being threatened with.

"Do not push me," I hissed. "I am on my last nerve, and I _will_ use this knife, right here, right now."

Peeta, to my shock, merely scowled at me. "You're heavy. Get off."

"Excuse me?" I couldn't hide my surprise; it was all over my face. "I don't really think you're in the place to be making demands right now."

He looked to the side and sighed when he saw that everyone had gone outside. "Sorry," he apologized sarcastically. "Would you like me to pretend to be terrified? I'm not a very good actor, but I can try."

"Why aren't you scared?" I asked. I sounded miserable, like a whiny kid that didn't get his toy truck. "I'm telling you I'll kill you, and you don't even look like you care."

He was silent for a moment. "Well…" he started slowly. "You said you didn't want to kill me. I don't think you would over something like this."

"How do you know that?" I whispered back. "You saw me kill at the Cornucopia, you know I can do it."

"I trust you," he said quietly, looking me straight in the eyes. "I probably shouldn't, but I do." His hand came up to my face and he touched my cheek gently. I instinctively leaned into the touch, but when I realized what I was doing, I panicked.

"Shit!" I leapt off him again, and without a single backward glance, I sprinted out of the tent.

* * *

><p>I ran until I felt like my chest was going to explode from the strain. When I finally stopped, I was pretty far in the forest, and only had a little knife as a weapon. Oh well, I didn't really care at that point. Angrily, I flopped down on the hard ground and leaned against a tree. All in all, not the most comfortable way to be spending my morning.<p>

But it was either that or stay back with Peeta where my emotions were getting _way _too out of hand. I had no idea what to think about Peeta, or anything he did. What did he think of me? Before he had made it clear that he wouldn't mind becoming friends, but I was confused. Why did he even want to be friends with someone that held a knife to his throat? And how could he possibly trust me after I did that? I knew he was strange, but this was really crossing some sort of line.

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the tree above me. I leapt away from it and pulled the knife from my waistband simultaneously, staring up through the leaves with my eyes narrowed, searching for the source. A few seconds later, a black and white bird flew out, singing a song that was disturbingly human sounding, and not the usual chirping of your average flying fiend. (Not going to lie, I hated birds. Back in District 2, a huge one attacked me while I was training in the fitness yard. I still had talon marks on my back.)

I lowered my weapon slightly, but not completely. I had a right to be suspicious, anyway. Normally I would never venture out alone like this; it was a stupid move in an arena full of people that wanted you dead. I was probably on the 'most wanted' list of everyone in here, although I knew a couple who held a strong grudge against Katniss. I didn't particularily want to run into her either. There was something dangerous about her, an aura or something. I didn't trust it.

Another sound caused me to whip around with the knife held up again, this time towards something that was approaching on foot. They weren't taking care to be quiet and the footfalls were heavy, so I assumed it was one of the guys in the arena. I hoped it wasn't Thresh. A few seconds later, the person was revealed.

Nope. Not Thresh.

Peeta.

"What are you doing here?" I asked slowly, taking a step backwards automatically. Was he planning to kill me before it came down to it later? I wasn't sure I could go down without a fight. My pride couldn't handle such a mortal wound.

"Looking for you," he answered simply, grabbing the hilt of a sword that was attached to his belt. I tensed as he drew it. "Here," he said to my surprise, handing the weapon to me, blade towards himself.

"What?" I asked, blinking stupidly.

He rolled his eyes. "Take it," he ordered, and I did. "I know all you've got is a tiny knife."

"That's what you think," I mumbled to myself.

"Anyway, I went searching for you after you ran off. I suck at tracking, but you were running so the prints were easy to follow." He shrugged. "I was worried."

Shit. He was worried? About me? Because I ran off? He's doing it again. "It" referring to how he kept making my idiotic emotions go wild in ways I didn't want them to. I had come here to escape him and those thoughts, but yet he still managed to interfere. I wasn't sure whether I was mad, upset, or happy. Wait, happy? No, that wasn't supposed to be on that list. I meant violent. Yeah.

"No need to worry, I can take care of myself," I said quietly, leaning against the tree and keeping my eyes on him. He took a few steps forward so he was not even a foot away from me, and I leaned as far back into the tree as I could, trying to put space between us.

"Why do you run away whenever I touch you?" he asked curiously, holding up a hand as if to touch my face again, but thought better of it and let it fall to his side.

"You ran away before too," I reminded him, recalling how he had sprinted after we had become a tangled mess on the grass.

"That was different," he mumbled, a pink flush brightening his cheeks slightly.

"Sure."

We both stood still for a moment, both of us appraising the other. With a hesitant expression on his face, he brought his hand up again and let the back of it graze my jaw gently. I twisted away from it with a grimace.

"Am I that repulsive?" he asked in what sounded like a joking voice, but which contrasted greatly to the sad, weak smile on his face. "I thought we could be friends or something, but if you're that weirded out…"

I groaned in exasperation. Would he ever give up? "It's not you. I don't even know if it's me. It's just this whole messed up situation. I've never had friends. Now isn't the best time to start, seeing as how we're supposed to kill each other."

"I thought we agreed we didn't want to kill each other," Peeta mentioned, tilting his head to the side and reinforcing my comparison of him to a puppy.

"I don't want to kill you, but that doesn't change anything, really," I answered uncomfortably. This conversation was getting a little too in-depth, a little too emotionally charged.

"But I like you. I want to be friends," Peeta said softly. "I mean, we could try. I know the circumstances are weird, and maybe we don't go together all that well, but what if the odds _are_ in our favour?"

"The odds are never in anyone's favour in the Hunger Games," I said. "Besides, do we really act like friends? I mean, I wouldn't know, but we don't seem to."

Peeta sighed. "I'm not asking you to be my best friend, or to die for me, or anything stupid. Can we just talk to each other without feeling the need to use violence?" he asked, looking at me with sharp eyes, probing for any reluctance. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't cringe so much when I try to touch you. I'm not going to stick a knife in your back."

"I don't know that," I replied, staring at my feet. I was, dare I say it, nervous. This whole situation had progressed past uncomfortable and into the realm of just plain fucking _terrifying. _"And you touching me is weird."

"Bad?" he asked, lifting his hand again with a grin.

I scowled at him. "No, just… I'm not used to the whole friendship thing, I guess. I never saw any friends back at my District act like you do towards me."

Peeta shrugged. "It's physical contact. In my District it's an expression of trust, since trust is kind of scarce." Well, that explained it. In my District, physical contact was something strange, maybe something dangerous. People usually only touched each other if they were intimate, or if they had known each other for years. Especially around the time when people were being chosen for the Games. There was a lot of betrayal then. I couldn't be blamed for being slightly disturbed by being touched.

I hesitated for a moment, heart beating a bit faster than it should have as I contemplated my next move. I took a deep breath, and just did it.

I lifted my hand and touched his face.

It was just a little touch, my fingertips barely touching his cheekbone, but electricity seemed to zing down through my arm. Clearly I needed more physical contact if something this small caused such a huge reaction. Peeta's face kind of made it worth it though; he grinned from ear to ear and lifted his own hand to touch my cheek as well.

"See? Not so bad, huh?" he said, still grinning and looking like I had made his day.

"Guess not," I mumbled. "Don't take this friends thing too far, though. We're still in the Games."

"This is enough for me," Peeta said, his giant grin softening into something more gentle. "I don't know why I've been so obsessed with being closer to you, but this is good. This works."

"Don't expect me to pour out feelings or anything either. You do that enough on your own," I added sternly. He just laughed and let his hand fall. I copied him.

"We should probably go back before they panic," he suggested, gesturing in what I assumed was the way to the camp. I nodded in agreement, and we started off again, Peeta leading the way since I was directionally impaired.

I was so distracted by the new developments and my first friend that I didn't notice the big brown eyes staring down at us from high in the tree.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Hey everyone! Sorry about taking a while to post. I was going to update last Sunday, but remember that person I was interested in? Yeah, big news. We're together. So I've been a little preoccupied._

_Hope you like the chapter. I personally think it was pretty good, and I'm trying to slowly build things up from what Peeta and Cato had at the beginning. I don't want to move too fast though, because that usually really annoys me.  
><em>

_I wrote another Cato/Peeta story. It's a one-shot (smut/lemon/rated M, etc), and I've been writing it on the side while I wrote this one. If you're interested, check it out on my profile. ("When The Night is Cold".)  
><em>

_I really have no words for how fantastic you guys have been as reviewers. Let me address a few questions/concerns:  
><em>

_I will be tweaking the story-line in places, because we all know that a lot of dumb things happen between this couple in the book, and it would be hard to write this as anything but a tragedy if I followed exactly. I hope it still seems somewhat realistic/believable though.  
><em>

_I intend to bring other characters in slightly, maybe just to cause some ruckus. (You can see hints of that at the end.)  
><em>

_By the way, know how many people have read this story in the couple of weeks it's been posted? 10. Freaking. Thousand. Holy crap guys, really? That is amazing.  
>I heard someone at my school the other day quoting this in the hallway. I was trying not to laugh. I literally had to put my hand over my mouth.<br>_

_But yeah! Reviews to me are like bread to Peeta.  
><em>

_-TFPW  
><em>


	7. His Convincing Eyes

Awkward. That was probably the best word I could use to describe the walk back to camp. Peeta seemed pretty cheerful, whistling his way along a path that I could not see. Every few minutes he'd turn around and ask a random question that really wasn't at all relevant ("How tall are you?"), but mostly there was silence. I didn't really mind. I had too much in my head to consider, and that was better done in the quiet.

The biggest thing floating around my head was, obviously, my new friendship. I guess I should have known it was coming, but really, I'm a big hard-headed idiot that doesn't like to get close to people. It was thanks to Peeta that we were friends at all, not me. I had been trying all along to prevent this very thing from happening, and yet for some reason I could hardly keep the smile off of my face. There was a warm feeling all through my body, and I liked it.

Back at camp, the others seemed mildly worried, but not exactly panicked. If both Peeta and I had been killed, their path to winning would have been much easier. The most concerned one seemed to be Clove, and she ran up when she saw us approaching.

"Are you two alright?" she asked, looking us over quickly with her sharp eyes.

"Yeah, didn't run into anything at all," Peeta replied, continuing to walk towards our stack of food. He jumped to avoid the mines and grabbed a couple of apples from the pile, tossing one back towards me. I caught it and nodded my thanks to him. Glimmer and Marvel came over then, both appraising my mood.

"What's the game plan today?" asked Marvel when he decided he wouldn't get punched for speaking. Everyone looked at me for an answer.

"I think we've relaxed enough," I pointed out, having thought about it a bit on the way back. "Truth is, I think we've got too many enemies out there, and I want to take care of that, maybe take a few out of the running."

Peeta looked skeptical. "Wouldn't it be better for them to finish each other off and then wait until they come here to find us?"

"We're the Careers," Marvel said condescendingly. "We don't wait around like pansies." The rest of the group nodded their agreement. Peeta frowned but did not say anything more, though he looked like he wished to.

"Anyone in particular?" Meg asked in her quiet voice.

"Anybody we find," I said with a half-grin, half-smirk. "I think our most important targets are Thresh and Katniss though." I didn't add on the fact that what I felt for Katniss went beyond a simple desire to remove her from the games; I was sort of jealous at her relationship with Peeta. Between them, the friendship could be easy. Then again, apparently they were in love. Well, it's not such a different thing, is it…? Both were forms of affection, both seemed to have physical aspects, and both caused tingly feelings inside. Then again, I probably wasn't the best judge of the subject, seeing as how Peeta was my only friend and I had never been in love.

"When are we leaving then, Captain?" asked Glimmer with what I assumed was an attempt at a seductive smile. She looked a bit like an alligator.

"An hour, maybe two." I looked at the sky, contemplating. "How about noon?"

"That's when the sun is in the middle of the sky, right?" Glimmer whispered in Marvel's ear. I couldn't blame him for rolling his eyes and not answering her.

"Go get ready," I ordered, flicking my head in a direction that was not near me. They all walked away, mostly in pairs, talking enthusiastically. Peeta didn't leave however, and instead turned to face me.

"Katniss is one of our main targets?" he asked, and even my oblivious and non-emotional self could see the pain in his expression. "Was it necessary to say that?"

"Well, it's true," I defended myself. "Look at her scores. She's obviously got something we don't know about." I paused. "Unless… you know something?"

He shuffled his feet in the grass, looking uncomfortable. "Don't take it badly, but I don't think I should share that."

"Why not?" I asked indignantly.

He smiled meekly and touched my forearm lightly. Another sign of comradeship, I assumed. "Friends don't ask for information so they can better kill the friends of their friends."

"Uh," I said brilliantly, running that through my head. "Okay."

"So…?" he prodded, looking up from under the flop of hair in his eyes.

"So what?"

"Can we… not hunt Katniss?" He bit his lip, wondering if he was pushing things too far. "I mean, I know not everyone can live or anything, but can't we wait and see if she, y'know, dies some other way?" Even saying that seemed to cause him some sort of pain.

I sighed and started walking towards the pile of weapons to choose a better sword than my other one, and he trailed after me, grabbing my forearm to make me turn to him again. He stepped farther into my personal bubble than I was used to people doing, and it stunned me momentarily. His hips and abdomen was a mere inch or two from my own.

"Please?" he asked in soft voice, letting his hand slip down my arm to wrap around my wrist gently. I gulped and tried not to look at his face. I knew far too well how much influence this boy had over me. One look into his big blue eyes and I was a goner.

"I already said what I said," I muttered to the sky. "I can't really take it back."

"Sure you can, you're the leader," he protested, pulling on my wrist to try and make me look at him. I stubbornly kept my gaze focused on the clouds rolling by lazily.

"Good leaders don't change their minds," I said.

"Good leaders _listen,_" he said with a slightly impatient undertone to his voice. When I didn't reply, he huffed and grabbed my face, pulling me roughly so I'd look at him. If it had been Clove or Glimmer I probably could have easily resisted, but boy, he managed to put some strength into the movement.

And then, oh shit, I was looking in his eyes again. As predicted, they were big and blue and begging me to listen to him.

"Stop that," I groaned, trying to tilt my head away from him again. He kept my face in place and stared me down.

"No," he answered bluntly.

We stood awkwardly like that for a few seconds. Him with his hand holding my jaw in place, and me with a hand half extended, debating whether it was friendly to punch him in the gut to get him to let go of me. Finally I sighed and let the fight go out of me.

"I'm not saying anything to them, but we won't go looking for her," I mumbled.

Peeta's mouth immediately turned upside down from the previous frown into a big grin. "Cool," he said happily, releasing my chin. I reached up to massage it. The guy had some power, that was for sure. If we ever had some form of physical battle of strength with no weapons, we'd likely be fairly equally matched. My height might give me an advantage though; I was a few inches taller than him.

I continued my journey to the pile of weapons and Peeta followed by my side this time, looking unbearably smug. Clearly he understood his ability to make me do whatever he wanted. That really wasn't good news for me.

"What do you want?" I asked crankily, gesturing towards the sharp items. His expression changed from smug to a grimace, and he nudged a mace with his foot.

"I don't really want anything," he admitted.

"I'm not letting you go out there without something to fight with," I replied, rolling my eyes and picking up a small axe. "How about this?"

"No, too aggressive," he said with a sigh, crossing his arms as though all this frustrated him greatly.

"Oh come on," I dropped the axe and frowned at him. "You can't seriously say you'll go out there and fight with your bare hands?"

He shrugged, glancing at the pile. "Well, I don't really know how to use any of those anyway. Might just be a weakness. I trust my fists more."

"Fine," I threw my arms up in a gesture of defeat. "If you get killed, don't blame me."

"Okay," Peeta said cheerfully, walking away from the pile. Like some sort of companion animal, I followed him. We were friends now, that was what I was supposed to do, right? My knowledge on the subject was quite abysmal, considering I had never had anyone like Peeta before. I was limited to how I saw others acting, and even then, there weren't many great examples of friendship in my district.

"We have over an hour to kill," Peeta pointed out suddenly, stopping in the middle of the open field. I glanced at him suspiciously.

"Yeah, and?"

"Maybe we should get some sparring practice in, y'know?" he suggested. "Without swords this time."

I sighed. "Fine. But let's not wear ourselves out before the real fight."

* * *

><p>Our sparring match was short, but not uninteresting. Peeta was surprisingly good at hand-to-hand combat. Every time I seemed to get a hold on him, he'd twist and manage to break it with his strong arms, occasionally using his feet to push me off of him. I couldn't think of anyone in the arena that could take him without a weapon except perhaps Thresh, who was a beast of a human being. They must have some crazy growth horomone in his district's food.<p>

Our fight did become awkward a couple times, but nothing like the time Peeta had run away. He fell on top of me once and our bodies had become uncomfortably close, but he had not jumped away. We had both paused for a moment and contemplated the situation, until I decided to take advantage of the moment and kicked him backwards.

We stopped a little under an hour before noon and spent the remainder of time drinking water, eating, and filling up small travel packs. We assigned Colby as camp-protector once again, knowing he didn't dare disobey us. The Careers were still the most powerful group in the arena, and it was obvious that he was going to stick with whoever kept him alive longest.

"Ready?" asked Marvel excitedly, wiggling in excitement beside a half naked Glimmer.

"One second," I said. "Glimmer, where is your shirt and jacket? You look like a slut."

She pouted at me. "But Catoooo!" she whined. "It's hot out!"

I put my hand to my forehead in exasperation. "Glimmer, I don't want to see your womanly business flopping all over the place."

"That's just cause you're not interested," she replied, sticking out her tongue at me. I scowled at her in return and decided to let her inappropriate lack of attire pass in favour of avoiding jokes about my sexuality.

"Let's go," I commanded, and we set off at a brisk pace.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Hi everyone! I know it seems to you like these updates are few and far between, but for me this is considered "steady updating". I'm really lazy about writing. I'm working on that, though! Plus my personal life has become a bit busier lately what with school and my relationship and all. _

_I know not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but the next should be fairly exciting and action-packed. Also, can you guess which of them is experiencing strange and confusing thoughts? The correct answer is both. I hope I've gotten it across at least a bit that Peeta isn't thinking entirely along the lines of friendship. That doesn't mean he understands what he's feeling as romance or anything, but he knows it's weird. I'll be playing on that more later._

_Someone in the reviews called me "mate". That makes me feel exclusive or something. And who has brown eyes? Y'all are silly! My only clue is that it wasn't Katniss.  
><em>

_If you review you can have a piece of cake with my love sprinkled on top. A piece of my soul on the side if it's a long review.  
><em>

_Ciao!  
><em>


	8. We're Not Normal

It was hot. Irritating hot. One of the things I hated most in the entire world, even more than birds, was the heat. I hated that there was no escape from it; it trapped you. At least when it was cold out you could bundle up more, but cooling down was so much more difficult. We weren't near a water source, so we couldn't splash water on ourselves, and even the shade of the forest offered little to no relief. It wasn't long before everyone in our group was shirtless, aside from Clove who stuck her nose in the air and continued on with what amounted to dignity.

So, thanks to the heat, we were walking through the forest half naked, and know what that meant? Peeta was exposed to the world, AKA me. Now I'm not gay, not even close, but Peeta is very distracting when his shirt is missing in action. It's probably the fact that he's so well built; it's a bit intimidating. He caught me peeking at him once, and he raised an eyebrow as if to ask, "_What are you looking at?_" I just shrugged and turned my face forwards again.

"Where _is_ everyone?" groaned Glimmer, dragging her feet and breaking branches with annoyingly loud snaps. "We've been walking for two hours and we haven't seen a _thing_. We should go back, this is pointless."

"Shut up," I snapped at her. I really wasn't in the mood for her whining when I was hot, sweaty, and confused, I mean, _intimidated_, by Peeta's physique.

"Everyone is probably hiding from this heat," Meg commented, wiping sweat from her brow with a huff. "I can't blame them. And as much as I hate saying so, I have to agree with Glimmer and say that this isn't going in any positive direction aside from weakening us all."

I hesitated for a moment, and the rest of the group stopped walking to look at me. "Well, how are we going to get any further in the games?" I asked in a cranky voice. The rest of them shrugged and shuffled uncomfortably. Peeta, I noticed, wasn't listening to me and was instead peering up into the branches with a frown on his face. That irked me, but I tried to ignore him.

"Let's go for another hour, and if we don't get lucky, we'll turn back." I continued on. There were a couple of groans and complaints, but nobody really spoke up, and I urged them to continue walking again. I fell to the back of the group to wait for Peeta, who was still contemplating the trees above.

"Cato…" he said, waving at me so I would step forwards. I glanced at the others retreating backs, but did what he asked of me. "Look up there, but don't do anything rash."

Confused, I followed his gaze. "I don't see anythi-" I started to speak but was cut off as I gasped when a small movement rustled the leaves.

"It's Rue," hissed Peeta into my ear. I shivered when I felt his breath on my throat, but kept my cool.

"Uh, yeah," I replied, trying not to seem distracted. "We should, er, kill her."

"What?" Peeta looked alarmed. "No, I said don't do anything rash. I want to speak to her. She would probably know where the real threats are. She's like a spy."

I groaned, but as usual, let him have his way. "Fine, but communication is up to you."

"Uh-huh," replied Peeta. He looked behind him to make sure our comrades had completely disappeared, before calling quietly into the branches, "_Rue_." There was no reply.

"Rue, it's Peeta," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk. I know you can see me anyway." There was still no response for over a minute. I shuffled around a bit, getting frustrated and just wanting to leave and forget about the brat hiding in the leaves, but Peeta put a hand on my chest to stop me, and who am I to resist a friend?

Finally, we heard a branch snap, and the head of dark hair and big wide brown eyes appeared. She contemplated us for a moment before crawling lithely down to a low branch where she settled and continued to watch us, silent. None of us spoke for a while.

"Hi, Rue," Peeta greeted eventually in the charming way that only he could really pull off. "How are you?"

She hesitated before answering. "I'm alright if you're not trying to kill me," she said in a suspicious voice. Her eyes seemed to be locked on me more than Peeta, so I guess she thought I was more of a threat. Which would make sense, considering my nature versus Peeta's.

"We're not going to hurt you at all," Peeta replied, and his voice rang with finality and truth. I don't think anyone on Earth has the power to go against that voice. It affects me to my core, I know that for certain.

"Okay," said the small girl. "What do you want, then?"

"Maybe some information," Peeta shoved his hands in his pockets and stared up at her. "Have you seen any other tributes around?"

Rue was slow to answer. "Yes…" she replied. "I've seen Katniss. I know where Thresh is. And your group is heading directly towards another one that I don't know the name of. I had to escape him though, he tried to throw a knife at me."

Peeta nodded. "Can you tell us where Thresh is?" he asked, probably knowing that I was most interested in eliminating him from the running. Rue shook her small head defiantly.

"I won't betray him like that, we're from the same district," she replied. Peeta seemed to have expected this answer, since he didn't protest in the slightest.

"Well, at least we know there's one that way," he pointed out to me with a shrug, nodding his head in the direction that our group had trudged off in. "Better than nothing."

"Wait," I said suspiciously narrowing my eyes at him and then turning to look up at the small girl who had gone tense the moment I spoke. "What about Katniss?"

"We're allies," she said harshly. "I won't betray her either."

"You're useless!" I growled at her, frustrated. She stuck a tongue out in return, and it took most of my self-restraint not to attempt to climb the tree and take her out. She felt quite safe, though, since she knew neither of us could reach her before she had the chance to escape by flinging herself from tree to tree like some sort of monkey.

"Shut up, Cato," Peeta muttered to me, hitting me lightly in the side with the back of his hand. "Thank you," he added on to Rue. "What can we give you in return?"

"What?" I hissed at him, grabbing his wrist and squeezing it so he'd pay attention to me. "We're not giving her anything!" But Peeta just rolled his eyes and looked back at her expectantly. I considered knocking him to the ground out of anger. I _hated_ being ignored.

Rue took a moment to think of something. "How about you answer a question for me?" she suggested slowly. I looked at Peeta, and he just shrugged.

"Shoot."

"Well, I know you're both in the Careers," she began, picking at the bark on the tree as she spoke. "But the two of you seem… different. I noticed before."

"Before?" I found myself interrupting.

"I saw you two in the woods together a while back," she blushed like she had said something indecent. "That's kind of why I'm… asking."

Peeta looked confused. "But what are you asking?"

"Um… I think I'm asking if… you two are… close?" she hesitated as she spoke, and she picked her words carefully as though she were afraid that if she chose the wrong combination, she'd offend us. I looked at Peeta with a raised eyebrow, and he gave a small shrug to me in return.

"I'm not sure how to answer that, actually," Peeta replied slowly. I nodded in agreement.

"We're friends," I said it in a voice that was probably too harsh for the topic, but somehow it felt like if I wasn't adamant about that fact, then nobody would believe it. Either way, Rue's face became slightly confused.

"Oh," she replied with a frown, pulling absently on a strand of dark hair. "So you're… just friends, then?" Oh no. Not again. Not _again. _How many people were going to assume things before they finally got it through their thick skulls that Peeta is not attracted to me, and I am _not_ attracted… er… Not… attracted… Definitely not… to Peeta… No. No, brain, no! Stop!

"Just friends," Peeta confirmed in a somewhat amused tone of voice, completely oblivious to my internal rambling. I crossed my arms and said nothing. If I did comment, it would probably wind up getting us in a much worse situation.

"I just thought you two were a little affectionate for just friends," she said with a sigh. "That's all I wanted to know."

"What a pointless question." I couldn't stop the words from spilling out of my mouth. "You could have asked anything, maybe something to help you survive the games, and you ask if Peeta and I are… y'know… that?" I shook my head in disapproval.

"Oh, but it is useful," said the little girl with a small smile. "You say you're not together, but… I see something there. I think, for example, if someone were to attack or aim to kill Peeta," she nodded at him, "you would not allow that to happen." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"We're allies!" I yelled.

"It's more than that," Rue grinned wider, but seemed to sense the end of the conversation, as well as my patience. "Good-bye." We stood in shocked silence at her abrupt departure and watched her leap from tree to tree through the forest until she was out of sight and range of hearing.

"Well then," Peeta said when she was long gone, turning to look at me curiously. "That was interesting."

"Sure was," I mumbled crankily. "Stupid brat. Trying to dictate shit she doesn't know anything about."

"Mmm," Peeta hummed in what was probably a placating tone. He slid down the trunk of a tree behind him to sprawl comfortably on the ground. When I didn't make any movement, he patted the ground next to him invitingly. "Come on," he said with a smile. "Let's just relax while they take care of that other tribute, huh?"

It was probably a terrible, terrible idea. We were both shirtless, the heat seemed to be driving my head mad and making me think absolutely ridiculous, impossible and inappropriate things, and we were both very much alone. I had learned from previous experience that when I was alone with Peeta, my life had an unfortunate tendency to change drastically. The last time, for example, he practically pinned me against a tree and demanded that we be friends. Not that I regretted it, per say, but it was still strange.

So you wouldn't be wrong in calling me an idiot when I accepted his offer and slid to the ground beside him, so close that our entire sides were touching. It was unbearably hot out, but for some reason, neither of us complained about the sticky closeness that we shared.

"I didn't really want to go kill him anyway," I mumbled out as what I hoped was a good excuse. "It's too hot out."

"It is that," Peeta agreed, though he seemed rather unaffected.

"Why aren't you bothered by the heat?" I asked, half confused, half jealous. "I mean, you haven't complained or anything. It's weird."

He pointed at himself and grinned. "Baker," he reminded me. "I work around ovens all the time. I'm used to it."

"Still," I sighed. "It's disgusting."

"Mmhm," he agreed for my benefit.

There was another silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. We sat and listened to the sounds of the birds and the insects, and I wondered if I would fall asleep. Hopefully not, because that would probably mean my head would wind up falling on Peeta's shoulder or something.

I was just about to speak again and suggest that we move on to find the others when I felt something very disconcerting. There was a gentle touch at my wrist, light as a butterfly. Peeta was stroking the skin there. I decided to pretend not to notice and closed my eyes again, secretly hoping that he would keep doing it. It just felt _so_ nice. Thankfully, he didn't stop. In fact, he expanded his aim and let his fingertips ghost down my inner forearm, trace my veins, draw little circles… A few seconds later, he picked up my palm and put it on his folded knee so he could trace the lines there and carefully unfurl my fingers. I kept my eyes closed.

I kept my eyes closed until I felt what was unmistakably rough fingers entwine with my own. I looked at our hands in shock. I knew, I _knew, _this was not a 'friend' activity. Maybe girls sometimes, but even then, young ones. Never two teenage boys with what was already a shaky and unstable friendship.

"What are you doing?" I asked Peeta, looking from him to our hands with wide eyes. He didn't seem to have an answer himself, so he just shrugged.

"Holding your hand, I guess," he replied with the decency to sound embarrassed. "Why?"

"Friends don't… hold hands…" I said slowly, staring intently at the way his fingers seemed to perfectly match up with the spaces between my own.

Peeta hesitated for a moment before he answered, but when he did, his eyes connected with mine. "In case you missed the memo," he murmured, "We're not exactly normal friends, are we?"

I couldn't find it in me to disagree.

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><p><em>AN: Oh my gosh guys, I am SO sorry this is so very late! I have been incredibly busy the last couple months. You wouldn't even believe. I've had zero time for writing, and when I did, I just wanted to flop down and read something someone else wrote. If you're still around reading this, I love you and you're the best, thanks so much._

_The attention this story has gotten has been ridiculous if I'm honest. I've had so many PM's about continuing, questions, everything. It's amazing. Actually, the one-shot I wrote for this pairing actually got translated into Chinese which is SO so cool.  
><em>

_Anyway, loves, I adore every single one of you reading this, never forget that!  
><em>

_If you review, I will send you your choice of an internet high-five, bro-fist, kiss or hug! (With only three easy payments of $19.95!)  
><em>

_-TFPW  
><em>


	9. Confessions

Normal friends; What do they do? Well, they probably talk and laugh with one another, maybe cry on the others shoulder when things get rough… They hug briefly and make fun of one another playfully and tell each other secrets that they can't tell anyone else.

I'm not an expert on the topic, but I _can_ tell you that normal friends, especially guys, do not, I repeat, _do not_, walk through the woods with hands brushing against each other in what was both a purposeful action, yet subtle at the same time. Every touch made electricity surge up through my arm, and I could have sworn Peeta felt the same way; he wouldn't stop turning to peek at me with something brewing behind his eyes that I didn't understand, but knew was in my eyes as well. It was something that seemed almost playful, but I felt it to my core. A strange, foreign feeling I didn't really understand.

At first the feeling had been something I thought must be friendship. It was warm and pleasant and fuzzy, and I felt connected to Peeta somehow. I didn't want him to be harmed.

Now though, now things were shifting. The little things he did affected me more than they ever should, and every time our skin connected I felt like I might burst into flames. I guess there had always been a slight physical aspect to us, even when we were very firmly only friends, but that had increased and now I craved the feeling of his hands on me.

"You alright?" asked the devil, peeking back at me over his shoulder from where he walked slightly in front of me. His hand gently brushed against mine in what must have been a comforting or inquisitive gesture.

"Fine," I replied, unsure of if it was a lie. On the one hand, no way could I allow myself to feel anything more than friendship for the baker in front of me. He was a _guy_. And even if that wasn't enough to compel me to push him away now, he wasn't just a member of the male species, he was just a baker. A simple, plain baker. If I had ever expected to find myself with or interested in someone (which I hadn't ever expected anyway), it wouldn't have been someone so far below me. My family would be horrified. Matter of fact, they were probably already horrified that he was even a part of our group at all, since they were without a doubt keeping tabs on everything happening in the games.

On the other hand, as confident as I could make myself out to be, there was a high chance that I was going to die here in this arena. It seriously couldn't hurt to have a brief bit of happiness beforehand, even if it _was _with a simple baker, a simple guy. Who knew, maybe all I really needed was that.

Simplicity.

We continued walking in companionable silence, both lost in our own thoughts. Peeta glanced back every few seconds as though he were making sure I hadn't run off, and eventually I just sighed and knocked my hand purposely into his where it was swinging by his side.

"I'm not going anywhere," I told him honestly.

He peeked down at my hand before answering. "Sometimes I wonder," he said. "if you'll just run off because you don't want anything to do with me anymore. I wouldn't blame you."

"I've considered it," I admitted quietly, looking down and very slowly and gently letting my pinky hook around his. "I've considered a lot of things if we're being honest here. I even thought that maybe we should just get rid of you so you could stop being such a problem for me."

"But you didn't do any of the things you considered," Peeta replied, twining his ring finger 'round mine. I realized that we had stopped in the middle of the forest. "Why not? I wouldn't have been able to fight back."

"I don't know," my words came out as a groan. "I have no fucking idea why not."

"I think you do," he said in a hushed voice, not mocking, not amused, just honest and genuine. "You know why. It's the same reason I haven't run away yet, the reason I could never put a dagger through you." Almost all our fingers were interlocked.

"I don't know, I don't know," I said in a pained tone. My free hand came up to press against my eyes. "Fuck, it shouldn't be this way."

Peeta stepped into my space so that our chests were only a couple centimeters apart. "Who cares what it should or shouldn't be? It's not like we're going to make it out of here, or if one of us does, it's not going to be me so I don't care anyway. I just want to enjoy what time I've got left, and if that means I spend it with you, so be it."

I took my hand from my eyes and looked up to find him staring at me with intent, honest blue eyes. We were both silent for a moment, just looking at each other, studying one another.

"Can I say it?" Peeta asked in a whisper, laying his forehead gently against mine.

"Only if you want to," I whispered back, almost inaudibly. Peeta's free hand rose and landed softly at the side of my face, coarse fingers making soothing circles over my cheekbones. He didn't speak straight away, just stood there like he was measuring up the situation.

"It needs to be said," he finally murmured. "If it isn't, neither of us are going to be able to accept it."

"Then say it," I said, letting one of my hands snake up to put my fingers in his blonde hair. He remained quiet for another moment before smiling in a somewhat nervous way and moving to connect our lips in the gentlest of all touches. Despite how gentle and soft his lips were against mine, I felt a jolt of electricity soar through my body like I had been struck by a particularly pleasant kind of lightning. He pulled back without letting the kiss get any deeper and looked at me with big emotional blue eyes.

"I love you," he said. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He laughed at himself quietly and tucked his face into my neck, where I soon felt wetness against my skin. Oh god, he was… he was crying?

I stood awkwardly for a moment, not really sure how to respond to either him confessing his love or his crying into my shoulder.

"Why are you crying?" I asked at last, staring at the blonde hairs that were tickling my cheek. "You don't really seem like the, uh, crying type."

"Shut up," Peeta mumbled into my skin. Oh, yes, it felt nice when his lips moved on the bare skin of my neck. Now really wasn't the time though.

"No, what's wrong?" I moved his face away from my shoulder so I could see it. "I have a right to know why you're sobbing into my shirt."

"I am not _sobbing_," he replied indignantly, wiping the last few tears from his eyes. "I was barely even crying. It was more like watery eyes."

"Tell me," I ordered in my most commanding and threatening voice. Peeta tensed up slightly at that.

"Fine, fine, just… don't use that voice," he replied weakly.

"Okay, then spill," I said to urge him on. "Why are you crying?"

He stayed quiet, but I didn't push him any further, fully aware that he was going to explain; he just needed a moment to think it through.

"For several reasons," he murmured finally, letting his fingers play idly with the edge of my shirt. "I mean, first of all, it's just… big, right? Saying that? It's a big deal, and I dunno, it's just overwhelming." He sighed. "And then there's the fact that this… whatever it is… is doomed no matter how we look at it. We're in the Hunger Games, we're not two characters from a romance novel who can keep each other through trying times. One person in this entire arena is going to survive, so either we both die or one of us lives without the other. I mean, I don't know how you feel about this or anything, but I feel something for you that I haven't felt for anyone else… as stupid and crazy as it is. Even if you _are_ Cato the sadistic asshole, I don't want to think about being without you again. Sometimes people talk about that one person that they belong with, their perfect match, their soul mate…" He looked up at me with a shy smile on his face. "I think you're my one person. My soul mate."

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><p><strong>AN: **_Hello folks! I haven't updated this story in... er... probably a year. I don't even know, I didn't check. Anyway, I typed this up randomly and I'm posting it even though it's short. I'm not entirely pleased with it but after how long it's been and how my writing has changed in that time, it'll have to do! I realize this story is full of errors and stupid plot business that I didn't bother with when I was originally writing it and I apologize. Might write a new one about these two to try and make up for it... _

_If you're still reading, bless your little brave hearts and thank you! _

_Reviewers please be gentle with me! (Or rough, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing.) _


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